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Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Comparative proteomics identified the vitamin E-binding plasma protein afamin as a potential novel tumor marker for ovarian cancer. In addition, we observed in a previous small study decreased plasma concentrations of apolipoprotein A-IV (apoA-IV) in preoperative patients with kidney cancer. Afamin, but not apoA-IV, added independent diagnostic information to CA125 and age for differentiating ovarian cancer from benign and healthy samples; the odds ratio of ovarian cancer was reduced by 44% for each doubling of afamin (P = 0.032). The relatively low sensitivity, however, clearly indicates that afamin and apoA-IV alone are not sufficiently suitable as diagnostic markers for ovarian cancer. Afamin contributes, however, independent diagnostic information to CA125, thus establishing its potential as an adjunct marker to CA125.